The Northwestern softball team has had a season so far where it has seen the brighter side of things and has bunched together a few victories in a row.

On the other hand, the Tigers also have had to experience a few setbacks on the diamond on their way to an 8-4 overall record and a 6-4 mark in the Colonial League through last weekend.

It may seem like a roller coaster year for his Tigers, but first-year head coach Josh Zimmerman believes his players are taking the entire experience in stride.

"I think the girls are doing a great job handling it," said Zimmerman. "Softball is a very humbling sport. You can be on the top of the world one day and then be down in the ditches the very next day. But, the beautiful thing about having these games back-to-back is you just can't dwell on these things.

"It allows for them to forget about it pretty quick and you get right back at it the next day."

It happened exactly that way for the Tigers last week. After the suffering their worst defeat of the year to Palmerton, a 10-2 win Blue Bomber win, Northwestern got right back to things on Saturday at Pate's Park with a shutout win over Notre Dame (Green Pond).

The Tigers utilized a big the third inning against Notre Dame and only needed five innings to post a 10-0 win over the Crusaders.

"Our girls battle beyond belief," Zimmerman said. "They never give up and they do a good job with that. I said that to other people that's going to pay dividends on down the line and it has a few times.

"But, right now, we've just got to get back on the winning track. We had a tough one against Southern Lehigh followed up with a heart-wrenching setback to Palmerton last week. But, we've got to stop the bleeding a little bit here so we can get into those playoffs."

They have done that a few times since opening day back on March 30.

The Tigers opened with a 11-0 victory over Moravian Academy, only to follow with a 6-2 setback to Palmerton in their first meeting in New Tripoli. A three-game win streak followed, including wins over Northern Lehigh, Bangor and Salisbury.

After sustaining a nail-biter of a setback to Catasauqua (12-10), it was Lydia Danner to came through with a three-run home run to seal the deal for the Tigers in an 11-8 win over Bangor.

Northwestern then followed with a 16-6 victory over Palisades the very next day.

Then, the Tigers dropped back-to-back losses to Southern Lehigh and Palmerton, but Zimmerman didn't see that losing streak last long once they got to play Notre Dame this past Saturday.

"They do keep picking themselves up from it," said Zimmerman. "Hopefully, the latter half of the year here we can have more of those games where we do have it to pull through in style.

"We're a young team and I understand that. I believe the talent is there that this team could actually contend and get into that league playoffs. And, once you get there, you never know what's going to happen."